This album deserves more attention. Whilst already acclaimed throughout Swedish musical media, Axel Mårdsjö’s 2023 album Ett Göteborgsporträtt will perhaps never have enough praise. It’s that good. It could also do with more media coverage to help provide me with enough contextual information for this review; there is seemingly not much out there (on Google at least) about the virtuoso composer and saxophonist, and even less about his most recent release, which translates to “A Portrait of Gothenburg”. What I can say from my research is that Gothenburg is Mårdsjö’s hometown. This makes a lot of sense as you take in the vibrant visuals that constitute the album artwork, and the sheer joy that envelopes every measure of music in this album. There’s clearly fondness and affection baked into fibre of this work.
If you’re feeling unconventional, track number 3 – SOL – is a great place to start. Its gentle yet uneven (7/4) opening is an instant draw-in, yet it gets better. Something happens as the rest of the band come in; extra beats are thrown in or taken, away here and there. This is something that really epitomises the excellence of this album for me, alongside the orchestration, sonority, melodic structure, and outstanding solos. That is that Mårdsjö has a way of using metre and accents on beats to make the melody glide and the phrases flow in a seemingly organic yet mysterious way. I have been saying this for too long, but I am going to need to sit down and work out what’s going on in each of these pieces – for my own piece of mind and curiosity. Ett dygn i Polen is another great track to take in that showcases this metrical magic. Another attribute worth appraising is the tasteful pairing of the guitar and sax/clarinet in the head of tracks such as this one. Mårdsjö’s warm yet glassy tone perfectly pairs on unison lines with the mid-heavy guitar tone of fellow Swede musician Olof Wullt – go check out his 2024 album Beat-Heart. The vibraphone and marimbas played by Rasmus Osbeck (according to Discogs) are also a great melodic match. While we’re talking instruments, we can’t ignore the accordion in track number one – Harmoni! It fits it right into that folk-jazz genre aesthetic and yet doesn’t seem too cliché. It’s no surprise that Mårdsjö composes for various critically acclaimed big bands and is seemingly held with high regard among the European jazz community (though quietly on the internet).
This album serves as a lasting love letter to a hometown, and boy does it serve well. Embodying almost perfect aesthetic unity, from the artwork to the first and last tune, Ett Göteborgsporträtt delivers exactly what we can only hope all contemporary “folk-jazz” records do: a transportive experience that is in equal measure prescriptive and subjective in its imagery. Brilliantly, it somehow does this while showcasing an incredible calibre of musicianship and compositional talent from Mårdsjö and his collaborators. This is the perfect album for Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter and is the perfect companion whether you’re in the western ports of Scandinavia or your bedroom in the middle of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
Waxing Lyrical 